Maribelle's Court Case
by MoonShadow's Thoughts
Summary: After returning home to Themis, Maribelle became a magistrate who demanded equal justice for nobles and commoners alike. Gaius never lost his sweet tooth, though he ultimately returned to less savory enterprises. Having studied to become a magistrate, Maribelle feared the day she would meet her own husband in court. Oh...Rue the day... (Two-shot).
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a simple Two-shot that I had in the back for a while. I'll release part two maybe tomorrow.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

No.

This isn't happening.

No. No. No. No. No. No. This wasn't happening.

This is a nightmare.

It's just a very realistic nightmare. She would be woken up by Brady or Angelica soon and this would have turned out to be all a bad dream.

But it wasn't one. She had checked several times. Pinching herself. Biting her lip. Jabbing pointed object in at herself. Even splashing her face with water which was something that she never did in public.

It wasn't a dream or a nightmare. It was cold reality.

"Magistrate. Pst. Magistrate." a voice below her whispered breaking Maribelle from her trance. She looked down at the scribe and asked, "Yes? What is it?"

"You must start the trial, Miss." the scribe whispered worriedly.

"Ah! Yes. Um. Mhm. Everybody stand," she recovered, after everyone obeyed she continued, "We will now start he trial. Will the prosecutor please state their case." her hands were trembling. She was looking everywhere except for in his direction.

"You honor. I would like to plead that this man is guilty on charges of theft of not only money but of several very important documents belonging to the Themontic family." said a main who was dressed in very plain robes. Maribelle knew this family well as they had been close to hers from the days before her father was born. They were very keen in naval based trading and made most of their income from such endeavors.

"Will the defendant please plead his case." she asked still not looking in his direction.

"The defendant pleads not guilty on all charges presented." said a soft spoken women. This made her cringe as curiosity and a bit of anger took her over. Defendants who could not purchase a lawyer for their trial were given a small election of those to choose from by the country of Ylisse. He must have had a choice and choosing her was deliberate. As she finally turned to his directions, she saw a sight the he promised would never happen.

Gaius was heavily cuffed and sitting in the defendants chair with a guard behind him. He was looking quite annoyed and worried as he was pulling out candy from pockets and hidden stashes which was something he did when he was worried.

She hoped to Naga herself that he wasn't worried about the trial, but there was no way to know for sure.

"We shall start the trial, will the defendant- I mean prosecution please stand and give the full List of charges." Maribelle said, biting her lip at the mess up.

The lawyer got up and straighter his outfits and pulled out a scroll and unraveled it then read, "On the night of August, the 12th, many files from the secure vault of the Themontic family were missing as well as 20,000,000 gold pieces from the family treasury were missing. There weren't not many signs of forced entry, leading us to believe that a master thief had broken into the vault. The only piece of incriminating evidence left behind of the incident was a half-eaten lollipop. From this and some eye witness report from the guards and neighbors, tells us that this man was the culprit. He matches most of the descriptions of the guards and through many rumors and investigation of previous felonies we find that he is the culprit." He then placed the scroll down and sat down. His partner got up and pulled out another scroll and called, "We would like to call the defendant; Gaius to the witness stand."

Gaius got up and the chains rattled loudly. Maribelle could tell that as he walked to the stand be was deliberately making the most amount of noise possible with the chains. He sat down with a thud, then shifted a bit more, got up and sat down again, and finally pulled out a licorice stick and began to suck on one of the ends. The prosecutor was about to ask him a question when Gaius held up his hand. Silence inside for a bit before Gaius turned to Maribelle and asked coolly "Your honor, may I be granted to request?"

"What are they?" she responded with only the smallest hint of confusion.

"Firstly, I wish to be rid of these chains. I promise the jury that I will not run from the court as I know I am an innocent man. I give you my honor as a thief and as a member of the Shepards." this caused a lot of murmurs through the court and even within the jury. Maribelle looked down at Gaius, but he didn't return the gaze. She guessed that he was either embarrassed or didn't want the court to know their affiliation with each other. She sighed and replied, "You may remove the chains." the guard moved close to him went to out the key but stumbled, apparently the keys weren't there. Gaius took the key to the chains cuffs out of his sleeve and undid all the chains, he then gave the key back to the guard next him and stretched his arms and legs.

Maribelle was getting a little bit impatient with his display, he did like to show off but this showing off would only hamper his chance to walking away free. She coughed loudly once and said, not looking directly at him "What is your second request?"

"That I have a private conversation with my wife." he said.

"Objection, your honor, the defendant is only trying to stall the trial. The defendant has no need to talk to his wife at this ti-" the lawyer began.

"OVER RULED" Maribelle said quite forcefully, she waited for the lawyer stand down and then turned to Gaius and said angrily, "I am pretty sure you don't want to talk to me right now as I am furious with you at the moment!" _How could he even consider asking her this!?_

"It's about the case. It's actually really import-" Gaius started.

"I said, silence. You told me that you would never end up in this situation and look at where we are! It was one of your vows for Naga's sake! I have half a mind to sentence you to jail just for breaking that vow alone!"

"Ok, Ok, Ok fine." Giaus said recoiling a bit. He knew not to push her buttons when she was studying over a court case at home and now that he was here, in court, on trial, he guessed that she was stressed out of her mind.

The crowd and the jury managed to put two and two together and they began to muted and whisper furiously. Maribelle had never out right said who her husband was; she would only say that he was a strong and cunning man whom she loved dearly. Finding out that her husband was a well-known thief that had been arrested and sent to jail more than once, was quite a revelation. Maribelle slammed the hammer uncharacteristically hard on the desk and yelled even louder than she did at Gaius "ORDER IN THE COURT!"

Silence was made immediately. Everyone was now on edge as Maribelle had a look of absolute fury on her face. She took a couple deeps breaths then said calmly, "Let us proceed."

"Of course, your honor." the man said and then turned to Gaius, "Have you ever heard of the Themontic family?"

"Yes. I remember Twinkles going to their parties every once and a while."

"Twinkles?" asked the lawyer confused. Maribelle gave a sigh, rage building just a bit more. That was his old nickname for her and he almost never used it anymore. He would only use it when they were in a bit of fight.

"My angry, bitchy, wife" Gaius said, sticking a thumb in her directions.

 _Oh, he was going to get it when he gets home,_ she thought.

"So you know of their business and their associations?"

"All I know of them is that they don't have a clean history." he said as he finished his licorice. This got the crowd murmuring again as they all began to speculate what that meant. The only thing Maribelle was thinking of at the moment was how she was going to punish him for saying such things about her family's close friend.

This wouldn't be the first time be had received her punishments, but she wanted to make him remember this one. The one she remembered having the most effect on him once was when she found all of his candy and hid it all in the one place he would never look; her court case drawer. He was in pure agony that time. She remembered how he got terribly agitated at first looking for the candy, but then all his energy just seemed to disappear. He had begged quite profusely for forgiveness after only one day, which she had given to him after another day and a half of sweets-less torture. She would have to think of some form of punishment worse than that.

"May you elaborate on said statement?" asked the prosecutor.

"Objection your honor, these questions have nothing to do with the actual trial." Gaius' lawyer said. Maribelle was about to comply as she did agree but Gaius held up his hand at his lawyer and said "Don't worry. This pertains to the case at hand." Then he looked at the prosecutor and continued, "What I mean by not having a clean history is that they have gone through many back doors to get to where the family is today. I can start naming some if you want?"

"No further question as of yet. Be silent" The prosecutor said hastily.

"Oh. Well since you asked. The Themontic family has been in the center of many different scandals and has been monopolizing the naval trading industry for quite a while. One of these many scandals was the-"

"Silence, Gaius!" Maribelle screamed at him, "You will be silent when told to be or you will be silenced by force." This was an empty threat. At least she hoped it would be. Maribelle would never want to intentionally hurt her husband but she was a magistrate of the law here, not wife to Gaius and if things got out of hand she would have to use force to subdue him.

"Fine! But don't expect anything out of me now!" Gaius said.

After a bit of time the prosecutor, who was talking to his associate about something, returned to the front and looked at Gaius. After riffling through a couple other pieces of paper, the prosecutor pulled out a paper and showed it to Gaius. He then showed to the Maribelle, and she was able to understand that it as a floor plan for a house. A roughly, obviously unprofessional drawn one but it served its purpose to highlight all of the entrances and exits of the floor. The prosecutor then motion for his partner to take the picture and he turned to Gaius and asked "Have you seen this before?"

Gaius did not speak. The prosecutor waited then continued.

"I will take this answer as a 'yes'. Now, knowing your history as a thief, would it be easy for any common thief to enter the premises?"

Again. Gaius did not speak. This time, the prosecutor waited longer than he had before he repeated.

"I ask again, would it be easy for any common thief to enter the premises?"

Maribelle groaned inwardly. Gaius was a thief and had been in prison before; he knew how to keep silent. He had kept silent for a whole month without so much as a slight whisper once so as to not give any hints about what he had planned for their honey moon one time. This was with much coaxing, bribes and promises of many sweets if there was only one hint given. He was not going to break.

She smashed her gavel on the wooden block and called "Court is adjourn for the day. We will reconvene tomorrow at the same time. The defendant will be held in a cell, alone, awaiting for the continuation of the trail." Gaius looked over to her with an exasperated looked, "Don't you give me that look. You got yourself it this and I am furious at you. I am doing you a favor."

"Yeah, fine. A great favor. Just make sure that you don't visit me in slammer."

"Oh, you know I won't" she retorted with rage. He gave sneer and turned away and she did the same. He was led out of the room and Maribelle left the room as well her rage shown clearly on her face and turning others away for fear or her exploding.

However, Maribelle's rage only lasted for so long as on her way home she began to wonder what was Gaius' side of the story? She knew that after his days as a Shepherd were over that he had taken back to his more authentic routes but he had promised that they were never something important, only taking treats and sweets. He even said that he would pay them back every time something was stolen, be it from him or from some local boys so that it was never truly stealing (whatever that meant, she would never know). She began to worry if he was going to be able to walk off scot free on this one. Her rage at him getting caught and robbing a well-known friend of the family was dissipating as the fear of him being incarcerated for life grew. How would she take care of both Brady and Angelica? Oh god, Angelica would be in an outrage.

Angelica was their second child and she took more after her father than she did Maribelle. She may have inherited her mother's looks, with her blond hair and her chestnut eyes, but she was definitely her father's daughter. Not only had she shown propensity for sneaking around but also she had also shown to have his crave for sweets and delicacies. Angelica had once sneaked around the house to get into the cookie jar without making a single noise at some odd hours of the morning. Gaius had followed her and stopped from taking the jar, but was so proud of her efforts and skill that he allowed her two cookies before sending her to bed, something he had told Maribelle regretfully before bed. After that she followed her father everywhere upon finding him, be it under the blue morning sky or the cover of darkness. She idolized him as 'The Thief of Thieves' and would try her best to learn and practice everything he told her.

Maribelle was against the matter entirely and forbade her daughter to go out with Gaius at any time past sundown. To accommodate this rule, Giaus made certain of that when he had his business to attend to, Angelica wouldn't know if he left the house or not. However, this didn't stop Angelica from attempt her own nightly escapades. Her thievery strolls took her out of the house and into the sweet pantries of Auntie Lissa and Unlce Chrom's castle. She never wasted an opportunity to not only raid their stashes of treats but also say 'Hi' to her favorite 'cousins'.

How would Maribelle tell her daughter that her father was in jail now? She idolized him. Watching him fall like that would destroy her. Maribelle shook her head a bit. Angelica was a strong girl, she would be able to take it. She hoped…

She arrived at the back at the house and her butlers helped remove her coat and dropped of her papers down at her study. As soon as her butler was loaded with her papers, she heard a pair of feet running down the stairs and another one which had a slower pace. She turned to see both her kids running to greet their mother, Brady was running towards with obvious worry in his eyes. Angelica on the other hand was just following her older brother, not running as fast but just enough to keep up.

As Brady got close, he started calling, "Ma! Ma! Is dad gonna be ok? He's not gonna go to jail, is he?"

Maribelle was shocked that he had heard the news so quickly. What time did she get back at? She looked outside only to be surprised to see that it was maybe an hour after sundown. The trial had been at mid-day and hadn't lasted anything over an hour! Had she really buried herself in work for that long?!

She steeled herself, focusing on the problem at hand; reassuring her kids that everything would be fine, when even she herself didn't know. She bent down and looked Brady in the eyes as she said "You father is in jail right now, yes." Brady face fell immediately and he was about to say something, but Maribelle continued, "But he is fine. It is just a small misunderstanding. He will be out before you know it." She finished with a reassuring smile, hoping that it looked believable to her kids.

"Really?" the young Brady asked hopefully.

"See?! Told you!" Angelica said triumphantly. This caught Maribelle slightly by surprised but she continued, "Papa, would never be so slow as to be caught! He's Papa! Thief of Thieves!" She cried out triumphantly and Maribelle couldn't help the genuine smile that grew on her face. She had so much faith in her father was not only innocent but that he had actually done the deed too.

"Alright you two, enough of this depressing talk. Let's get ready for dinner. Brady, you need to wipe you face before, ok?" Maribelle said as she got up and led them both to the dining area. She would have to keep their minds off of her husband's latest blunder but that would be simple enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Maribelle silently closed the door to the house and hoped that Angelica had actually fallen asleep. She had given her lots of sweets that night for her to rush on the high and eventually succumb to the eventual low that Maribelle was hoping for. This would give her a harder time to try and sneak out that night so Maribelle wouldn't be followed as she did her deed.

Although she said she wouldn't, she couldn't help herself to just leave those angry words be the last thing she said to Gaius that day. Yes, they have had fights before; some of them having to do with Maribelle's well-being as she try to do her job while two months pregnant, some still having to do with Gaius and his reckless thievery, but that never stopped them from not only saying 'good night' to each other but also apologize for the days words. It was almost a nightly ritual for them, as a way to start fresh the next day. They still loved each other and even after all the fights and arguments, they would continue to do so. It just felt terribly wrong to not end it with their ritual of forgiveness.

"Where would the great Magistrate be going at this time of night?" A voice called from behind her. Maribelle jumped, pulling out a magical tome for self-defense as she pointed to the assailant.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Please lower your hand! I didn't mean it like that!" the owner of the voice said as she pointed her hand at him, sparks already forming between the fingers. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she saw a familiar black cloak with the eyes of Grima on its sleeves and a hood over a face she knew very well.

"Robin!?" She said, in a perplexed tone, "What are you doing here?! Why did you scare me so?!"

"My bad. I figured you would try and sneak out so I decided to accompany you." Robin said sheepishly, "I guess my way of doing it was a bit off. Lissa has been telling me to work on my 'pranks' a bit more so maybe this is what she meant." He finished, making air quotes as he said 'pranks'.

Maribelle calmed down her beating heart and put the tome away and pulled her own black cloak and hood around her tightly as she asked, "You knew I was going to go out?"

"Well, yes. I'm pretty sure that anyone would visit their spouse when they heard they were thrown in jail." Robin said as if he was stating facts.

"But you know I would come at this time?" Maribelle asked as she motioned for them to walk.

"Yeah. Well, you are a well-known figure in high society. You being seen going to a jail to visit someone you know would be very detrimental to you social status. So if you were to actually see him, you would probably choose to see Gaius at a time where nobody would be out." Robin explained.

"And you figured this out on your own? I'm quite impressed that you know me so well."

"While I would love to say 'yes', I really just asked Lissa." Robin said with a small smile.

Maribelle laughed a bit at this. Leave it Lissa to help Robin understand the idea of social standings, and the social jungle of the upperclassmen's world. They turned a corner and Maribelle asked a question that had she only just wondered about, "Robin, may I ask what are you visiting my husband for?"

"Work related business." He said as he looked behind him, checking if there was anyone following them as he pulled out a small loaf of bread.

"Work? Aren't you the advisor to the Exalt?" Maribelle asked, confused. How did visiting her husband in jail have any correlation to the Exalt and his work?

"Yes, and as I said before, work related business." Robin curtly said. Maribelle grumbled, a bit as she decided to turn this question around to see if she could squeeze the information out of him and asked, in a way that would seem totally normal and un-threating manner, "Is your wife ok with this 'work' you seem to be doing this late at night?"

Robin gaged on some of the bread he was having, and he smashed his chest to help his cough. Maribelle helped as well, not realizing the large effect his wife had over him. After he managed to get breath again, he gave sheepish smile under his hood as he said, "Well… No. Lucina doesn't know about this. In fact, she asleep at home. I had to sneak out to get here but the trip should be worth it if she ever found out about this small oversight."

"I do hope it is. It would be terrible if she found out about this small ordeal. You. Out late at night. In the company of a woman." She let the sentence hang in the air and from Robin's annoyed sigh, he got the message clearly.

"As much as I would like to tell you, this matter is something that has been decided about already. The less people who know about this plan and it involved members the better it is and less loose ends I have to tie up. You may threaten me all you want but revealing any information this early into your trial could seriously have harmful effects on the proceedings." Robin explain, again looking over his shoulder.

"I never mentioned anything about the trail." Maribelle stated, again, trying her hardest to cox information about the situation. Although she would feel guilty if the situation was delayed or out-right terminated due to breach in silence, that meat little to her and her want for a clear-head about the safety of her husband.

Robin shook his head as he said, "No, you didn't but you are a smart women and there is no need to hide to you that the trail you are involved in, is linked to the…case at hand." He said, pausing a bit to attempt to find the right words, "I am very sorry but this is something that Chrom, Gaius and I, all agreed on. Breaking it would break my word to my friends and you know I don't do that."

Maribelle sighed as she had to admit defeat in this regard. Robin was secretive at times but when it came to loyalty to his friends he never wavered. So much so that upon his discovery after his disappearance when he struck Grima down, the first thing he did was gather up all the Shepherds and apologize to them profusely in the hopes that they might forgive him. She remembered that day quite fondly as Lucina, after he was finished apologizing to everyone, proceeded to wail on him repeatedly and yelling about how he didn't consider her feeling in the whole mess and how she had been worrying and very sad this entire time with him gone. While it was a very emotionally touching scene, it was still hilarious as Robin had to resort to running away from fear of being beaten to unconsciousness.

The finally arrived at the jail as before Maribelle could remove her hood, Robin stopped her and said, "Come now. I'll do the talking don't worry. No need to be throwing you name around so casually." Maribelle nodded and let Robin proceed. He removed his hood and asked to see Gaius in a private room. The guards bowed and as one went to get Gaius, the other asked the two of them to follow him as he led them to the room.

While the room was not large, it wasn't small either. It was probably comparable to the large war tents they had used so many years ago. Robin stood in the corner of the room as he offered the chair to Maribelle who took it and removed her hood. The guard seemed to recognize her and was about to bow and greet her with the usual greetings that her role is appropriated to. Robin raised his hand to stop him as he said, "You did not see her here. She is just an average women here, understood. No secrets outside this room." He then handed the guard a small note. The guards took it, read it, and his face paled as he nodded and went back to standing guard.

After what felt like a small eternity, the door finally opened and Gaius walked in, chains around his hands and feet.

"Gaius!" Maribelle cried out softly. Although it was unbecoming of her, she did run up to him and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into an embrace.

"Belle? What are you doing here?" He then saw Robin in the room and he asked, "Bubbles?! Did you-"

"No. I didn't. I keep my words. Don't worry. I just figured she would want to meet with you, found her on the way here and we walked here together. Nothing serious." Robin clarified. He then nodded to the guard he handed the note to and he nodded in return. Walking to the door and then motioning for the other guard to do so. The other guards looked confused but followed in the end.

"Gaius, I'm sorry for my outburst in the court room. I know what I said, and I apologize for it. I was just angry and I'm-" Maribelle started but Gaius cut her off with a simple kiss and pulling her tight into another hug saying, "It's ok Belle. I know. Yeah, I know. Let's face it, I did break one of my vows so you have every right to be mad at me."

"Yes but it still wasn't right for me let my anger out on you during the trial. I'm sorry for that."

"Hey, it's ok Belle. Besides, I want to apologize for the court room thing too. Being in prison for couple days has made me cranky and I was feeling a little fiery." Gaius replied as he stroked her hair unconsciously. While Maribelle would never say it out-loud, she did like it when it did. I felt reassuring to her in some way.

"I do want to ask you want you were thinking about getting involved with the Themontic's but I have talked with Robin and he advised me to wait things out." Maribelle she looked up into Gaius' eyes as she asked, "Just please let me know that everything will turn out alright?"

"It will Belle. I promise you by this time tomorrow, I will be out and free, and you'll have your husband back." Gaius said giving her another small kiss. She smiled at this but still couldn't help the feeling that he wasn't telling her the full story. She wasn't obviously, as Robin's presence proved that but she wanted to hear what he was going through so she could at least give him support.

But no. This was something he had to do without her. She accepted that. She just wished it didn't hurt as much doing so.

"Promise me you will tell all about this when this ordeal is over?" Maribelle asked.

"Only if you promise me that you will deliver a 'good night' to the kids." Gaius said with a smile. She smiled back at him and nodded. One final hug before she release him and went for the door.

As she was in the doorway, she turned to him one last time and she left with, "Good night, Thief."

"Good night Belle." Gaius replied, with the same love and affection she had given him. Maribelle closed the door and smiled. All may not be right in the world, but everything was right in her world.

She left the prison that night with her heart full of hope for the next day.

…

"Everybody stand," pause as everyone obeyed, "We will now start the trial. Will the prosecutor please restate their case for the record." Maribelle called.

The prosecutor stood up but he was ushered down by the man next to him as the man stood up to address her and the court. Maribelle recognized him as the current head of the Themontic family as he stated, "You honor. I would like to plead that this man, Gaius, former Sheperd, is guilty on charges of theft of not only money but of several very important documents belonging to the Themontic family. My family."

"Will the defendant please plead his case." she stated and turned in the direction of the defendants to be surprised.

"The defendant pleads not guilty on all charges presented." Robin said, "That's how it goes right?" as he turned to the women who had been Gaius' lawyer the previous day. Maribelle's visage didn't portray any sort of surprise but she was recoiling in confusion at this sudden change.

Robin was the right hand of the Exalt. While his face was not known to the public as he did tend to stay out of any public affairs Chrom would attempt to get him to join, he tended not to venture far from his side on days of none importance. This would be considered one of those days, so why was he here pretending to be a lawyer? She was not surprised but the fact that basically everybody in the room didn't recognize him but that didn't explain why he was here.

She decided not to think about it too hard and role with the situation, hoping that their old tactician had a plan ready for the situation, "As during the last time in court we had started with the prosecutor and the calling of their witness. We shall start with the defendant." Maribelle concluded and smashed the gavel.

"Perfect." Robin said in a slightly surprised tone. Although it shouldn't have, him admitted to his surprise made her stomach flip in worry. Had he really come here with no plan and was winging it?

"I would like to call to the stand, Deidriche Themontic. Current head of the Themontic family to the stand as a witness." Robin said as he looked through some notes and was handed some more by what appeared to be his secretary.

While Deidriche looked slightly surprised, he didn't object to the call nor did his lawyer. He sat down at the stand and looked expectantly at Robin as he asked, "I'm here. What will you ask?"

"You' family is well known for the work in the business of over sea trade correct?" Robin asked. The room was mostly silent but murmurs of confusion could be heard. This was common knowledge, why was he bringing this up as a question?

"Yes. My family was one of the first to move into the naval trading business." Deidriche replied slightly confused at the question as were others.

"You claim that Gaius had stolen not only document but also a large some of many correct?"

"Yes. 20,000,000 gold pieces. A large some indeed but not something that would destroy the family. It is however to keep onto one's earning." Deidriche replied, still slightly confused at the question.

"Ok. I can agree with you on that point." Robin said as he rifled through some papers before continuing, "May I ask you where were you the night that my client allegedly stole the files from your house?"

"I was at a business meeting." Deidriche replied.

"May I inquire as to who was at the business meeting?"

"No. Those at the meeting agreed to terms that wish to keep us in secret."

"Alright. So I am to assume that you weren't home then?"

"Obviously."

"Was this business meeting somewhere nearby?" Robin asked.

"It was. Although I am not at liberty to say where."

"Can you say it was on land?" Robin asked. This took everyone by surprise, but that surprise was quickly converted into confusion as the crowd didn't understand the question.

"Of course it was on land. Where else would it be? Underground?" Deidriche replied incredulously.

"True, then might I ask why wasn't your ship not at the docks the night of the incident?" This got Deidriche to silence immediately.

"Your Honor, these questions have nothing to do with the case at ha-" Deidriche started but Maribelle smashed her gavel as she called, "Overruled. Answer the question."

Deidriche gave a jeer, but composed himself before saying, "I assume my wife had taken it for a small voyage. It wouldn't be the first time."

"See, I am likely to agree with you, but your wife was actually at the concert being held at the Dowendly Hall. I would know because I actually have the guest list here." He said as he brandished some papers and handed them to Maribelle. She looked down to see that they were in fact the guest list of the Dowendly Hall. The name Elizibeth Themontic was circled as to make it easier to find.

"So can I take it that you didn't know where your boat was that night?" Robin asked and Deidriche looked around for some sort of out. He eventually calmed himself before replying, "Yes. I guess I didn't know where my boat was that night. May I ask you the relevance of these questions?"

"You can ask me but that won't really help you." Robin said as he pulled his hood over his face and threw papars he had collected into the air before calling out, "OK! Got what you need Fred?!"

Suddenly the door to the court room was thrown open as guards seemed to stream into the room followed by Fredrick as he strolled up the stand, pointed a sword at Deidriche throat and calmly stated, "Deidriche Themontic, you are under arrest for the manipulation of the naval industry, monopolization trade, willful acts of indirect destruction and consorting with pirate." He then gave a stern glare at Robin as he finished in his direction, "And how many times have I asked you to stop calling me 'Fred'?"

"Not enough to get it to stick eh?" Robin said with a smirk as climbed onto a chair, then a table. Then he jumped onto the table at which Maribelle sat as he tried to calm the crowd.

"What?! What proof do you have?" Deidriche asked perplexed, enraged and in disbelief.

"Your confession of you boat being gone the night of the robbery for one. We also have the reported documents that Gaius stole form your place of work, and if that isn't enough we also have some of the pirates you associated with in custody right now who are all on trial and ready to give testimonies for a sentence reduction." Fredrick stated as he motioned to Deidriche and guards were cuffing him.

"This is an outrage! These are lies!" Deidriche screamed as he was being hauled out of the court room.

"Everybody, thank you for your time. We humbly thank you for your participation in this particular court case. Please have a nice day." Robin called as he faced the large crowd of people who were in obvious confusion over the events that had transpired. He then turned to Maribelle and whispered, "Sorry but Gaius won't be in until dinner. We just need to tie up some lose ends." He then turned back and nodded to Gaius. As if waiting for the que, Gaius took out the key to the chains he was being held in, undid them all and followed Robin out of the court room.

"Court Adjourned." Was all Maribelle could say in the small silence of the event.

…

Maribelle was reading another case file in her office at home when she felt warms arms wrap around her shoulders. She stiffened slightly at the contact but then immediately relaxed when she felt her husband's head rest in her shoulder as he apologized, "Sorry Belle. I wasn't in time for dinner."

"Its fine dear." Maribelle said as she let her head rest on his, "So long as your back." She turned and gave an expectant look. Gaius gave his signature smile as he sat down on the chair behind her as he asked, "I supposed you want some answers?"

"Some would be nice. Its either I get them from you or Robin is going to have a very serious conversation with his wife about his practices." She explained, Gaius' smile faltered a bit and his sympathy to Robin grew slightly. Sure the leash was loose a lot of time but when she wanted it reeled in, severe whiplash would ensue.

"Well, to put it in the simplest way possible; I'm Ylisse's secret sword." He said with a flourish. Maribelle knew he meant this to be a big surprise or revelation but in honesty she couldn't understand the meaning of the title.

"You don't seem impressed." Gaius said a bit dejectedly and Maribelle caught herself as she quickly said, "No, no, no. I am definitely glad you haven't exactly turned back to your old thieving ways, it's just… I don't quite understand what the title means?"

"Yeah. Well I guess calling it that does make it hard to understand," he replied with a shrug as he pulled out a lollipop and stuck it in his mouth, "They it was explained to me and how I see it is like this; Ylisse has a lot of powerful families and Chrom has a lot of those powerful families work in his court. My job is to keep everyone honest."

"Honest? I don't understand how that is even possible."

"You right. If we just ask them, then they could easily lie about it. That's where my particular set of skill comes in. My job is to figure out why they have done this or if they have anything that we have to keep track of. Robin is my commanding officer of sorts, he decided which family to target and which ones that have potentially have very antagonistic ulterior motives." He pulled a folded piece of paper and handed it to Maribelle who unraveled it to figure out what it was.

As she read, it was list of the recent pirate attacks that had been going on through the Ylissan trade routes and a list of their supposed cargo, both had and lost and how many ships were attacked.

"Robin noticed a pattern in the attacks. How many times to the Themontic family's ships come up in the list?" Gaius pointed out. As Maribelle took a look at the list; they didn't appear that much. Sure they appeared on the list but it there was a definite difference on how many times the appeared compared to the others. Not only that but it seemed as though their cargo was mostly recovered from at least 1 out 3 pirate attacks.

"With that, and the with his family's constant decline for increase navel defense around Ylisse for a couple months, Robin decided that I should pay him a visit." Gaius finished with a triumphant smile.

"And you do this only for powerful families in Ylisse?" Maribelle asked, now very much impressed.

"Yes and no." He replied with a non-committal shrug, "I mainly stay in Ylisse but Robin has been using me and my team as a way to gain favor with other nations. Remember that extended leave I took 'bout a year ago?" Maribelle nodded, he had explained that he was just going out with some of the guys for what they called a 'Man-cation', "Well, while I was Cho'sin. Robin had me use some of my skills to get some information for Say'ri. Yeah, it was a bit of hassle but it still a fun vacation." … although she didn't remember it being in Cho-sin.

Maribelle listened intently and felt her shoulder's relax as she listened to the story. She was glad. He hadn't turned back to his old ways. Ok, he did but at least it was for a good cause and not for his own self-interest. Although now she had a question forming in her head that she only now realized was valid, "This is all well and good, and while I am proud that you aren't stealing for sport and such, I have to ask; why couldn't you have told me about this sooner?" Gaius' eyes immediately broke from hers and began to survey the room.

"Well I figured you wouldn't really like it very much." He said sheepishly.

"And why would that be?" Maribelle asked, perplexed. How could she think that of him? Was she really that hard on his sometimes?

"I figured you wouldn't like to know that your husband is slowly crossing names off a list and some of those names just so happen to be your close friends." He answered looking bashful. She was about to say something until she thought about his reasoning. Her circle of friends outside the Shepherds had been shrinking slowly. With the Themontics gone, that reduced her circle to about 11-10 which was quite small. She could understand now how he could believe she could be angry with him and was slightly going to agree that was she was slightly angry. Maribelle shook her head as she thought this and said commandingly, "Gaius! If you truly believed that I would be angry at this then you really have misjudge my love and care for you over those of my friends!" She placed a hand on his and squeezed tightly, "I don't mind not having many rich friends, or any for that matter. I'll be fine with just you and Lissa."

Gaius gave a small smile as he looked at her in slight relief. He returned her affectionate squeeze with his own but the small moment of silence brought up something that Gaius mentioned in his story.

"You said that you were in Cho'sen?" Maribelle asked her voice sounding slightly confused.

"Yes but that was a while ago." Gaius replied.

"You told me that you had gone to Valhm." Gaius' face fell. Forgot about that blunder didn't he?

"Yes. I do think I did mention that." He was acting shift now.

"And I am assuming you had a good time didn't you?" Maribelle asked. She was closing in the heart of the problem now and Gaius knew it.

"Well," Gaius said standing with a yawn, "I think its about time to hit they hay. I am pretty tired for the day. Good night Belle." He gave her a small kiss and quickly jumped out room. Maribelle gave a small, wry smile at this. Although she didn't actually administer punishment, she was going to have an easy time with Gaius for maybe the next week or so, depending on how sternly she worded her demands. Gaius knew he had mad a mistake by saying he had gone to Cho'sen. It was known for many things and many of those things she liked to keep her husband away from. The blow might have lessened if he had brought her back a small gift but he didn't, so now he was in this mess.

"Well," She said to herself as she turned back to her desk, "I least I know my thief is safe."

* * *

 **So what did you guys think?**

 **I'm curious cause this was really a throw away story. Not meant to be that deep but something that could 'if possible' lift some spirits.**

 **Gaius being a spy for the Exalt just makes sense to me if had actually married Maribelle because her whole deal is about being fair, just and a judge. I don't think he would have continued to steal whatever he wished just because life was slowing down a bit. He would probably just find something would make sense for him to do that still let him steal, sneak around and generally be a rogue/theif. Their ending together did somewhat rub me the wrong way on that point. And, yes. Robin would work for the Exalt in this case as he did marry their daughter, its kind of no brainer. I had decided to make him spy master mostly because I always had the idea that Chrom just wouldn't be as smart with his spies and Robin would be the more logical choice for them.**

 **Imma stop rambling! Hope you guys liked it!**

 **Hey if you want, request another couple epilogue and I'll try my best to think of a possible epilogue for them. (I actuall had a small idea of Nowi and Donnel's just because Nowi's ending would always be the more interesting to try)**


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